October 3, 2006

Hey!

WOW!!! I can't believe its October already. It seems like just yesterday that we got back from summer 'vacation' and went on our retreat. After coming back from the retreat, the freshmen had their freshman orientation week which was filled with fun activities and informational sessions. They got to know their dorm mates and made awesome friends outside of the gym. I think as a freshman, this was my favorite week of the year and friendships started then that have lasted to this day.

As for the upperclassmen and sophomores, we took that week to move into our new rooms and got things organized for the start of classes. The weekend was spent enjoying our last few days off from classes and watching the football game at home. Unfortunately, we lost the game but the new stadium looks awesome and being fans was fun too.

This past week was our first week of classes and so far, things are going pretty well. No one got lost getting to the right place and everyone seems to be enjoying most of their classes. I know that I am definitely looking forward to this new academic year, especially since I decided to switch majors this summer. This past week was also our first full week in the gym and it went great! We have been spending a lot of time on strength and cardio so that we can perform our skills with ease, but with each day comes more and more gymnastics and it's amazing to watch the whole team start to do more and more. Bars and beam are looking great with the girls working on combinations and individual skills. Everyone has been working on their tumbling and dance routines on floor. Kelly's new routine is coming along so well and looks amazing! On vault, we have been focusing on drills and timers over the horse in order to prepare for the big vaults coming up.

Seeing' Elmo and Liz doing more gymnastics has been incredible and I can't wait for them to be completely back. Besides the gym, we have been working hard with our new strength coach Jason on getting stronger and improving our agility and running. It has only been two weeks that we have been back practicing together and there's already an amazing excitement in the gym that I cannot describe. Having five new faces is a blast and we are getting to know them better and better everyday. It's going to be an exciting year for SWG and I can't wait!!

Alex 'Pinch' Pintchouk